


Down In The Forest

by trenchfry



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 2P Hetalia, 2P Nyotalia (Hetalia), Canon Divergent, F/M, I'm so sorry, Modern Day, Nyotalia, RELATIONSHIPS REQUIRE COMMUNICATION AND TRUST WHICH IS WHY THIS MAY BE A LONG RIDE HOLD ON, Slow Burn, casually puts all country variations in the same world, hope y'all like watching people suffer, kinda cringe but idc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26185618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trenchfry/pseuds/trenchfry
Summary: The only escape from the earth is a forest in which the location is unknown. It is believed that it is in another universe. Every single mystery has remained unsolved for centuries. How much longer will it last? And who will be the unlucky ones to find the truth?
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5





	1. Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventurous Nora Galante invites a reluctant Alexander Vogel to explore the mysterious Forest in another universe. As time passes, curiosity overcomes fear and Alexander finds himself desperate to know the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters used in this chapter:  
> Nyo!Liechtenstein - Alexander Vogel  
> Nyo!Latvia - Nora Galante

By letting some light fall on a small stone, usually hidden from the light by a piece of jewelry such as a necklace or ring, a country personification can disappear into a forest, or so that’s what they called it. The realm couldn’t be found anywhere on earth. They tried to find it before, but there was no place quite like it.

The forest, mainly used for downtime and a way for countries to easily reach each other, somehow maintained a temperature that was bearable for just about anyone. It was comfortable. Strangely comfortable. Some attempted to solve the mysteries of this realm while others didn’t bother. Not much was found for centuries.

\---

It seemed that no one else was there except for Alexander, the male personification of Liechtenstein. He never normally went to the forest for any reason. The outdoors wasn't really his cup of tea, but this was an exception 

Looking around at the trees and stuff, Alexander didn’t feel the same appreciation for nature that anyone else would feel. The trees were as good as plastic, and the dirt was as good as... well, dirt.

But when he saw Nora, he felt that all of nature’s beauty could be found in her.

He walked faster as soon as he saw her and stopped about two meters apart from her. Suddenly, he realized that we were no longer on earth, trying to maintain social distancing laws. Countries can neither catch nor spread a virus anyway. He stepped a little closer, but still not too close. 

“I missed you so much!” Nora Galante of Latvia went in for a quick hug, then she spoke again. “Alex, I didn’t know that you were curious about the forest as well.”

“Well, I wasn’t before, but your letter convinced me to come,” Alexander replied. “I was wondering, though. Why am I one of the people you chose to invite?”

“I never see you talk to anyone except for me and your siblings. So I’m trusting you can keep this a secret.”

“Did you invite anyone else?”

“No.”

A small grin crossed Nora’s face. She grabbed Alexander's wrist and started to walk. Her search partner followed slightly behind.

Eventually, Nora started to talk again. “So… what do you think we’ll find?” she asked.

“I hope to find some new places. Maybe a part of this place’s history or an explanation to its magic,” Alexander said. Once again, he wasn’t really all that interested. Those were just things that he heard his counterpart, Lili say once. As curious as Lili was about the forest, she never found anything in her adventures. She always felt a type of wariness whenever she went a great distance from the clearing and took it as a warning to turn back.

Alexander felt this himself, and it was clear that Nora did too, but she pressed on, dragging the reluctant 'young' man behind. Somehow the leaves and twigs that snapped under their feet seemed less common now, even though they were entering a thicker part of the forest.

It was there for the first time that they saw an entity that roamed the forest that wasn’t clearly a wild animal. It had a slight purple glow and flew around. It was very similar to a firefly, but it wasn’t a bug. It was just… a light. There was no body to it.

“Oh, isn’t it beautiful?” Nora gasped as it floated upward towards the canopy. “I’ve heard of those before! Mr. England claimed that he saw one once and I tried to look for one but couldn’t find it. I thought that was just one of his magical friends and I couldn’t see it.”

“I wonder what it is,” her partner said aloud, genuinely this time. Maybe the forest did have something interesting if they just looked deep enough, he thought to himself.

A few minutes later, they saw another light, glowing with the same color. It was close to the ground, but it started to float upward when Nora tried to come towards it.

“Aw, it’s shy.” Nora let her shoulders droop in disappointment, but not for much longer than five seconds. “That’s another thing we’ve discovered. The light thingies don't want us coming near them.”

Alexander tried to think of a proper response. “I wonder if there are any animals,” he said after a while. “The forest must be sustained somehow. I doubt it can stay this strong for centuries without creatures to inhabit it, but I’ve never seen a single animal in this area.”

“You’re right. Unless the forest is kept alive by something other than that. Maybe… the floating things have something to do with that.”

“Is it magic?”

The question sounded absurd to him as soon as it came out of his mouth, but Nora’s aquamarine eyes only widened at the possibility. “What if it is?” she asked. “Then why is it being sustained? It’s not like anyone comes here besides us nations unless it was purposely made for us.”

As much as he wanted to doubt it, there was no other explanation to be found. Instead of feeling indifferent, though, Alexander felt himself yearning for the truth.

“Perhaps we should keep looking,” he replied, slowly and thoughtfully. He didn’t want to sound like he thought Nora’s comment was absolute nonsense, even though what she said couldn’t be true. Why would someone or something create this atmosphere for them? How would it be done? It was beginning to be a problem that this forest existed in the first place.

There wasn’t much to see beyond that. As the forest started getting thicker, it became hard for them to walk much farther without losing the way. Finally, when the canopy was so thick that hardly any sunlight could be seen through the leaves, they turned back, planning to explore another day.

Nora was the first to leave, returning to her country with that bit of magic that somehow transported them around. Alexander watched her leave and then stayed a little longer. He didn’t have anything to do anyway, so he thought that he might as well look around by himself. He just had to know about what they discovered so far. There must be a reason for everything that happened, he thought. Alexander had never failed to find explanations for things before, so he figured that if he kept going, everything would eventually start to make sense.

The trees only grew closer together the farther he explored, but the occasional mysterious purple light would help him see enough to continue. According to their behaviors and movements, he realized that they were alive somehow. They had no body but obviously had a mind of their own. The way they would flicker was alarmingly similar to a heartbeat.

Now Alexander wanted to know where these things went whenever they became startled by noise. He tried to climb one of the higher trees. Despite his lack of experience, he could make it just fine, or so he thought. 

When he was as high as he could possibly climb, he carefully broke part of a medium-sized branch and watched it drop to the forest floor. A couple of the purple glowing things started to float upwards as he had seen them do before. Alexander watched them continue until they reached the very top of a tree, its light barely touching the leaves. They didn’t go any farther up than that.

“Huh.” He then shook the branch that he was standing on, for a moment forgetting how dangerous that could be. The lights, or whatever they were, flickered in response, clearly startled. They didn’t move any higher, they stayed in their spot and dimmed just a little bit.

Alexander climbed out just a little bit, wondering if he could reach out and touch one if he tried.

Then he lost his grip and fell.

He felt his body knocking against branches constantly, but was falling so quickly that he couldn’t grab a branch and save himself. His head knocked against a particularly thick branch, knocking him out before he hit the ground.


	2. Forgetfulness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up in his older sister's house, Alexander temporarily forgets about previous events and decides to return Adelheid's concern for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters in this chapter (in order of appearence):  
> Nyo! Switzerland - Adelheid Zwingli  
> 2P! Liechtenstein - Elisa Vogel

Alexander couldn’t remember what happened after he woke up. Just the strange figures, the voices, and the feeling of being moved. His thoughts seemed incoherent at the time, but eventually, he fell back asleep. His entire body hurt so badly, perhaps that was the cause of the confusion.

When he woke up a second time, he was completely fine. One look around told him that he was at his sister’s house, in the bedroom that Alexander used to sleep in when he lived with her. Everything was exactly how he left it when he moved. The sunlight came through the window, blinding him the same way it used to whenever he sat up in bed. The position of the window was always quite irritating. When he moved to get out of bed, he realized that there was no pain after such a fall. He fell, right? Or was that a dream?

Alexander was still wearing the same green sweatshirt and jeans that he wore when he came to meet Nora. Looking at himself in the antique floor mirror that he never really liked, he found that the clothes were covered in dirt, especially on the left shoulder where Alexander most likely landed. He was definitely in that forest recently, and it appeared as though he did fall. His hair was an awful mess, too. He tried to run his fingers through the tangles and knots. At some point, Alexander figured he would need to cut it. It was getting too long once again.

Now how did he get into his old bedroom? Could it be possible that the necklace he wore with the stone inside was somehow closed and he happened to sleepwalk to his old bedroom? Adelheid would definitely not let him in without waking him up, and she never left the door unlocked. However, the odds were low, but never zero.

Behind him, Alexander heard a click as the door opened. He turned around and saw his sister. Her hair was down, unlike usual. It seemed to reach for the floor, like the sunbeams that blinded him earlier. Switzerland's cold gaze took away any warmth that might have come from it. Alexander felt chills run up and down his arms and spine.

“Someone found you half-dead in the forest,” she said, her tone matching her eyes. “Explain to me how that happened.”

“Good morning, Heidi,” Alexander greeted. It was what he always used to say before saying anything else in the morning. That habit seemed to still with him as an adult. “I was meeting a friend there. She left before I did, and I guess I fell and hurt myself too badly to get up.”

She looked him up and down as if she was searching for something. “You must be hungry,” she remarked after a few moments of silence. “Get yourself a shower. See if any of your old clothes fit. We’ll talk more about this over breakfast.”

Alexander didn’t need to be told twice. The moment Adelheid held the door open, he sprinted to the bathroom in the hallway. Not a thing in there had changed from the hideous red and yellow walls to the old sink faucet that could only run cold water. It was cheaper that way. There was no way that Adelheid would get a new faucet while this one still worked all right, and there was no reason to waste time and money on painting the walls. And when Alexander turned on the shower, he remembered that it was too expensive to expect warm water to come right away. After a twenty-second wait, it was at least a little bearable.

The still confused little brother went downstairs after a war of hot and cold (the shower water was either burning hot or freezing cold), dressed in a getup from the ’50s, the only outfit he could find that was close enough to fitting him. His hair was tied back and out of the way for now. Adelheid froze when she saw him. She was still stone cold, but he could tell that she was trying not to laugh. Whether it was from the outfit or the fact that it was at least a couple of sizes too small for him, Alexander didn’t know. A combination of both, probably.

“Help me set the table, then we’ll talk,” she said without a remark on how utterly ridiculous her brother appeared. 

They were soon seated on opposite sides of the table just like they used to be. An unmentioned sense of nostalgia flooded both of them. Adelheid took a sip of water before locking eyes with Alexander again. Alexander was ravenous at this point, but he felt that it wouldn’t be polite for him to start eating before she did.

“Your friend,” she started, “What did they want from you? Why was it so important that you had to meet in the forest?”

It wasn’t like the forest was an uncommon place to meet friends. At meetings, Alexander constantly found himself passing notes from one person to another across the table about plans to meet there. It’s exactly how he would imagine a school to be, but he wasn't exactly sure because he was homeschooled. At any rate, the question, unanswered at this point, seemed a little strange.

“She wanted to explore and invited me to come along,” he answered truthfully. “I didn't want her to go out there all alone, so I did.”

Adelheid was eating as he answered, so as soon as he finished talking, Alexander stuck a fork into the egg yolk and let it run all over his plate. Adelheid grimaced at the action, but continued her interrogation. “Who is this friend of yours?”

“Nora Galante. You know, Latvia. We became friends after I confused her with Lili that one time, remember?” Alexander took a bite of some bacon, which had a little bit of yolk on it. Nevertheless, he thought it was delicious.

“Yes, I remember now. She’s not a bad example to you nowadays, is she?”

A bad example? Alexander wondered if his sister was beginning to disapprove of Nora. “Well, she is a little more adventurous than when we were younger, but overall not very. I was the one who fell after she left, so it’s not her fault for anything that happened.” 

“There’s no need to defend her, Alex. I’m only asking because I haven’t seen you in a while. It’s crossed my mind that you might have changed since our last meeting. I want to make sure you aren’t messing around with some girl that would give you some bad ideas.” Adelheid poked at her meal as she spoke. Alexander had noticed long ago that whenever she was concerned for him, she would never look him in the eyes. “Anyway, glad to know she’s just an old friend. Nothing more, nothing less.”

He couldn't figure out why that statement bothered him so much, but it did. Instead of asking her what that meant, he changed the subject. “Anyway, who brought me here?”

“It was one of the Hong Kongs. Leon Wang, or whatever. Lili was there, and I think that Seychelles girl was with them too. Lili thought it would be best if you stayed with me until you felt better.”

Alexander only knew Hong Kong and Seychelles as two of Lili’s friends. If he remembered correctly, Hong Kong was the troublemaker who always seemed to distract Lili from her duties and Seychelles was an island nation that liked inviting people to visit. Interesting that they were all together.

“I’m feeling fine right now,” he replied. “Funnily enough, I feel no pain at all, though I do remember bumping my head hard on a tree branch. Maybe it’s just me.”

“Still, I think you should stay at least one more day. I don’t want you to be alone if something does happen.”

It was a valid point. Alexander didn’t want that to happen either. “I have no problems with that. While I’m here, maybe I could help you fix up your house.”

“No, thanks. As long as everything works, I’m fine. Never mind about the quality.”

He was expecting her to say that, though he knew that she didn’t mean it. There was no way that she didn’t hate it here and he knew it. Luckily, he had lived with her long enough to know how to make her cave. 

“I’ll pay in exchange for you taking care of me,” he offered. “I just hate seeing you live in such a way that everything is inconvenient.”

“Yeah, yeah. When do you think you’ll be done?”

Alexander couldn’t help but grin at her sudden agreement. “If we get started after breakfast, maybe tomorrow evening.”

“That’s pretty quick,” Adelheid commented.

Alexander had two things that made him completely sure of his statement; money and connections. He knew that Elisa, another one of his country, was a wizard at this kind of stuff. At the right price, she would be at least semi-happy to help him do all the repairs in the house at lightning speed. He didn’t tell Adelheid that the repair person in question would be Lili’s ‘second player’, though.

“Feel free to finish your breakfast, then. I need to tend to the animals.” Adelheid stood up and took her half-finished plate with her to the kitchen while Alexander dug into his plate of yolk-covered eggs, toast, and bacon.

By noon, he had a deal. Elisa came around and he did his best to assist her by handing her tools and stuff. It was a good distraction from whatever the night before was. The thought of it hardly crossed his mind until he felt something slam against his forehead, exactly where he hit it while falling.

“Oof. Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” Elisa withdrew her arm and sighed. “Anyway, we’re almost done with fixing this shower. It works perfectly fine, but these walls look disgusting. Let’s paint the bathroom and we can call it a day.”

Lavender purple covered half the room in no time. It was the only paint we could find in her truck, leftover from another project. It wasn’t a bad color for the room. The shade matched the light things that were found earlier. Alexander remembered it being the last thing he saw before waking up in his old bedroom. He suddenly wanted to go back and find them again, though it was probably not a good idea…

“Alex, you’ve been frozen for like, two minutes. The paint might dry on your roller if you don’t move.”

“Right!" Alexander started in response, though still a little dazed. “Sorry, Liesl.”

“No problem and Liesl’s not my name anymore, remember?”

“Agh, sorry!” Alexander impulsively hid his face behind my free arm to block any punches that came, but none did come. Momentarily, he peeked through to see Elisa just standing there. She was staring at the floor, a visible frown on her face.

“No, I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I obviously still scare you. It makes no sense to me why you called if you're still scared, but I should leave and come back tomorrow.”

She put her roller into the tub of paint and began to open the plastic wrap, her back facing towards Alexander. He looked down at her and her long braids which rested on the floor, like two long snakes. 

“Do you want to stay for supper?” He asked though he already knew the answer.

“No.”

He was pretty sure he heard Elisa’s stomach rumble at the mention of supper. He felt really horrible for his moment of distraction which caused him to forget all that had happened in the part ten years regarding Elisa.

“Elisa, I know you’re not how you used to be anymore. If I wasn’t convinced of that, I wouldn’t have called you over to help us. I just blanked out for a minute and forgot all that.” He tried to be explain, but the stubborn girl was not willing to listen.

“Whatever. We can finish tomorrow and I can be out of your hair, which is in desperate need for a cut, by the way.” Elisa finished wrapping up the paint. “See you, Alexander.”

He didn't have the courage or the energy to say anything back. Instead of doing something, anything to make her stay like he wanted to, he let her leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! My name is Trench. It's been a while since I've worked on this, but I really want to finish it. I've never finished a long-term writing project before. We'll see how this goes. And if I end up finishing this, I'll find a way to reward myself.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the rest of the story!


	3. Indifference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adelheid bullies her little brother and Lili stops by to do the same. Everything is frigid. Only in the Forest will Alexander find wamth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters in this chapter:  
> 1P! Liechtenstein - Lilian Vogel

Elisa hurried through the next day. She didn’t talk much, but in little time, she and Alexander finished painting and worked on improving the kitchen, particularly the stove, which has been the cause of multiple fires throughout the years. Looking at how used it was, Elisa figured that they would need to replace it.

When all was done and paid for. She nodded and left without a word.

“Alexander, what the hell happened to my upstairs bathroom?!” Alexander heard his sister shout a few minutes after Elisa left. He cringed, remembering that she was never told about that particular renovation.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw Adelheid staring in from the outside of the bathroom. “Sorry. We thought that maybe the walls would look a little better in a different color,” he explained.

“It’s like a whole different place…”

Alexander chuckled nervously. Was that supposed to be a good thing, or..?

“Thank you, Alexander.” Adelheid shut off the light and closed the door behind her. “The paint must still be drying. I guess we can use the one downstairs for now.”

“So… do you like it?” he asked.

Her face didn’t turn from her usual stoic expression, but her slight nod was enough for her brother to know that she at least approved of the bathroom’s new look. “Well now that that’s done with, I have a bone to pick with you.”

“Oh? How come? I said I would pay for all the expenses, so if it has to do with money…”

“It’s your hair. It needs to be cut unless you want to grow it out again.” Adelheid crossed her arms. “You did all that for me, so I’ll save you from spending more money than you need. Let me cut it.”

Alexander put his hand to the back of his head. Sure enough, it was getting past his neck. He did not want to grow it out again as Adelheid suggested. Long hair probably looked nice on him as a kid, but times were changing.

Adelheid wasn’t joking, either. Only a few minutes later, she was carefully snipping off some of her brother's hair. Alexander sat in a dining room chair with a towel covering his clothes so that they wouldn't get dirty. She knew what she was doing, or at least she was pretty sure. As they sometimes couldn’t afford a barber, Adelheid forced herself to learn to cut hair. She only knew how to do one hairstyle, which was a result of decades of trial and error. Alexander trusted her now… sort of.

“Do you straighten your hair or something?” she asked at some point.

“I used to.”

He hated to admit it, but after he moved out and gained a sense of freedom, he did a lot of things with his hair. Stuff he didn't want to recall.

“Your hair was better when it was all fluffy and cute. Start curling it again, maybe.”

When did she become an expert at this? He reckoned that she was right in some sense, though.

“Since I have you stuck here, have you been in contact with your friend at all? You know, the girl? She should know what happened to you.”

“I wrote a letter last night.”

It was a half-truth. He had a letter written, but ended up not sending it. The incident when written down just seemed like something straight out of a thriller novel. He didn’t want to scare Nora or anything. And if it didn’t scare her, she probably wouldn’t believe him anyway.

His thoughts of Nora were interrupted by a hand mirror being thrust in front of his face. Alexander heard a chuckle when he jumped from the shock. ...Was his big sister laughing at him? Apparently, it’s possible.

“That looks better,” she remarked. “Probably my best work yet. What do you think?”

“It’s great,” Alexander said without hesitation. “Thank you, Heidi. You’re the best.”

“Mhm.”

They started to clean up the little bits of hair that were on the floor. A knocking on the door interrupted them. Alexander signaled that he would answer it knowing that Adelheid would probably treat the visitor with hostility rather than kindness. 

Lili was there. Her hands were behind her back and she was grinning ear to ear like usual. “I was so worried about you,” she said. “I tried to call, but you never answered.”

That would make sense. Alexander did remember leaving his phone at home, thinking that he would be home safe and sound. Funny how that worked out, huh?

“I think I figured out why,” Lili continued. She let go of her hands and handed out a phone with a red case. “You left this at your house.”

“You went into my house?”

“Yeah… wait, no!” Lili gasped. “Oh no, that sounds bad! I mean, I went into your house. You weren’t answering the door and I was so worried. I thought maybe you tripped and fell down the stairs or something!”

Her voice was innocent as possible, but on her face, Alexander could see a hint of a smile. What a tease.

“Very funny,” he said, rolling his eyes before opening the door a little wider. “I know you aren’t a burglar or anything, so it’s whatever. So do you want to come inside? It’s getting cold out.”

Lili stepped inside, still holding his phone in her hands. “Thank you, Alexander. Oh, I almost forgot. Some girl named Nora called. Is she of any importance to you?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “Wait.. you went on my phone, too?”

“I really didn’t mean to do it this time!” She thrust my phone in front of him, so he took it. “While I was looking for you, I heard your phone ringing from upstairs. The caller ID said Nora.”

Alexander closed the door to prevent any more cold air from coming in, then motioned towards the living room. “Did you answer?” he asked as they both took a seat.

“No. She might take it the wrong way if a woman answered the phone instead of you. I don’t want her to think you were cheating on her, so I let it ring. From what I observe, she seems like a really sweet person and you seem like you only have eyes for her, and I don’t want her to get the wrong idea… whoever she is.”

“...Nora’s not my girlfriend,” he said after Lili was finally done talking. He felt warm. Uncomfortably warm. Lili looked genuinely surprised at him.

“But it doesn’t make sense!” she persisted. “Why is she your top contact? Also, I noticed that she texted you and said that she wanted to meet with you in the Forest again. Why would she want to meet you there specifically, after your injury and everything?”

Alexander ignored the first question because he didn’t know the answer himself. “Yeah, she doesn’t know about what happened. I left my phone at home, so I couldn’t contact her right away.”

“Right. I’m sorry for assuming things.”

“It’s alright. I can see why it’s pretty hard to tell.”

But why was it so hard for Lili to grasp the fact that he and Nora weren't a couple? Alexander thought about it and remembered that Adelheid had assumed the same thing. If two different people had the same notion that he and Nora were together, maybe there was something wrong with their friendship.

“Lilian.” Adelheid stood at the edge of the staircase, peering down at us like a hawk. “I didn't expect you to come here again.”

“Hello, Adelheid!” Lili grinned and kicked her feet into the air, then back against the seat. “Did you cut Alexander’s hair, or was I just seeing things the other night?”

“You noticed. Yeah, I cut his hair since he’s not man enough to schedule his own appointment. Plus, he’s not half as bad-looking now!” For once, my sister grinned. It was quite a malicious grin that was honestly very uncomfortable to see.

Lili only giggled at the comment about him. “It looks great,” she said with a thumbs-up. “He looks much better than he did, thanks to you and you only!”

“You know that we look almost exactly alike, right?” Alexander asked. “Might want to take that into consideration before you call me ugly.”

“I’m a woman, so I can’t be ugly,” Lili replied. “If you were a girl, you’d be stunning. Well, I guess you’d be me, but still.”

“Huh… you’ve got a point there. I’ve never seen a woman who was ugly before, so I would make a beautiful woman.” The remark was only half sarcastic.

Adelheid’s boots loudly stepped against the wood of the stairs. Alexander wondered if she was going out so soon, and why.

“I never said you were ugly though,” said Lili. “I was only complimenting Adelheid on your hair while implying that you were. But I really don’t think you are! You’re very nice looking and I bet that your friend would agree too.”

“Uh… thanks, I guess?” Was that supposed to be a compliment or a hint at something else?

“I'm going to check on the animals again since it’s getting colder,” Adelheid announced before opening and closing the door behind her.

“Alexander,” Lili stared straight at him with a stone-cold serious look on her face, “I hope you know we were joking! We don’t truly think you’re ugly. You’re extremely beautiful. I hope you know that.”

To be honest, Alexander was surprised to hear Adelheid joke around like that with Lili. It didn't bother him too much, but still. 

He shrugged back, hoping it would reassure her. “Yes, I know. Wanna know why?”

“Yes, please! It would really help me believe you.”

He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. “I don’t care about appearance. Sure, it’s nice to look good, but that’s not as important as other things such as my health.”

‘Besides,’ he added in his head, ‘there’s only one person in the world whose opinion would matter to me. Sorry to say, but it’s not you.’

“That’s good.” Lili sighed and relaxed against the sofa. “So are you going to reply to your text, or leave that girl on read for longer than you already have?”

Alexander almost jumped out of his seat. “You read Nora's text?!”

“How else was I supposed to have read the whole thing? I told you earlier that you got a text.” Lili stated smugly in her seat as Alexander stared at his phone, hands already typing out an apology. “You need to get your phone a password or else I'll find all your little secrets on there and tell them to Nora.”

“You won’t find them on my phone,” said Alexander as he pressed the send button. After a quick sigh of relief, he leaned against the back of the seat and turned towards Lili. “Unlike most people, I only use my phone for texting and calling, so it doesn’t need a password. If you want to find my secrets, hack into my brain.”

He couldn’t help but get the feeling that Lili was enjoying his frustration. Yeah, her face was so innocently neutral as always, but that tiny smile of hers gave all of her mischevious intentions away. “You’re safe for now then,” she said.

Alexander took a quick look at his buzzing phone. Nora had already sent a reply.

“It looks like you’re fine, so I’ll be on my way, then.” Lili stood up. “Please call me after your meetup or else I’ll be extremely worried. I mean it, Alexander.”

He leaped from his seat. “Wait! I’ll see you to your car. It’s cold out, so…”

Grabbing Lili’s arm as was his habit with Nora whenever they went outside together, he led her to the door, opened it, and silently took her down the stairs and into the driveway where a familiar green pickup truck sat. The engine was running, and inside it was none other than its owner, Elisa Vogel. Alexander caught her peering at him before she looked away. Guilt stabbed his conscience at the ashamed expression on Elisa's face. 

“Elisa took you here?” he asked as he let go of her arm.

“Nico’s in the back, too,” Lili said with her eyes cast on the pavement as she rocked back and forth. “We were on our way to this baking class we’re all talking together… sorry, we didn’t tell you about it. We thought you wouldn’t be interested.”

“Your thoughts were correct.”

“Yeah… thought so. I asked if they wanted to come visit you too so all of the Liechs could meet up informally for once, but they didn't want to. I think they're scared of you.”

“I may still be more or less terrified of them myself,” Alexander replied truthfully. “Don’t worry about me, Lili. I don’t care if you exclude me from the group. Literally do or say anything you want to me. It won’t offend me in the least bit.”

It was supposed to be a comforting thing, but as soon as he said it, Alexander realized how cold he sounded. It was as if he didn’t care about anything. Lili didn’t seem too comforted either.

“Goodbye, Alexander. Remember to call or I’ll come back and bother you again.”

He wrapped his arms around Lili's shoulders, almost unaware that he was hugging her until he felt her hands patting his back. “I will,” he promised. “Stay safe.”

Alexander didn’t let go until Lili did. Their breath started to visibly blow into the frigid air like smoke. He waved one more goodbye before watching her enter the passenger seat of Elisa’s truck. Elisa still kept avoiding his eyes. As she switched gears and began to back out, Alexander noticed a pair of eyes from the back seat. Like a cat’s eyes, they shone with the most mysterious look. Lili wasn’t lying when she said that his 2P was there, too. As always, he gave off an intimidating air just by looking at him.

His phone buzzed again with another text from Nora. ‘Not answering again? I see how it is.’

Alexander typed a message back. ‘Sorry, sorry. I’ll tell my sister an excuse and get there asap.’

‘Your sister? I thought you weren’t living together anymore.’ Her response was almost immediate. Alexander wondered how her fingers could type that fast.

‘Long story.’

Now his hands were cold. He shoved them and his phone into his pockets and hurried around to the back of the house. Adelheid was just about to go back inside when he caught her just in time.

“Heidi, I need to go check on my cats, since I left them alone at my house.”

It was not an entire lie. He seriously did worry about his cats and would visit them later, though he was pretty sure that Lili took good care of them while she was sneaking around his house. Still, though.

“Be back in time for dinner. You can bring them here if you want. I don’t want you to go home until autumn is over.”

“Of course, Heidi. See you, then.”

When she was back inside of the house, Alexander pulled a necklace out from under his shirt. It had been really cold against his skin. Normally he never wore the necklace since he never took advantage of its magical properties. Most other nations wore them in case of an emergency, but he never found it convenient… until recently.

The necklace worked like a locket. He opened it slowly so that the transportation wouldn't be too sudden for his body to take. One second later he was at the forest clearing, where Nora was already waiting.

“You seem cold,” Nora remarked. Her eyes were full of glee while the rest of her face carried a concerned expression. “Need a hug?”

“No need to ask,” Alexander replied with a chuckle at her question. She knew that he could never say no to a hug.

While they embraced, this thought crossed his mind, that it didn't matter if anyone else was worried for him. When it came to Nora, he would do anything to assure her and give her peace. She was his only friend, and through all the painful years of watching her suffer, Alexander never wanted to see that happen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's 1 in the morning and I'm writing things. Hopefully this is readable. Love y'all!


	4. Paranoia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hugs? Warm.  
> Mushrooms? Snatched (or not).  
> Girls? Scary.  
> Hotel? Trivago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters in this chapter:  
> Nyo! Lithuania - Tatijana Laurinaitis  
> Nyo! Estonia - Kateriina von Bock

Using the cold as an excuse, Nora got herself the hug that she had honestly been waiting for. She didn’t normally feel comfortable hugging people. It didn’t come naturally for her as it did to Alexander, but at that moment, she felt that she really needed one.

“You’re so warm,” Alexander murmured as he draped his arms around Nora’s shoulders and swayed gently like a willow tree. Back and forth… Nora felt like she could stay like that forever.

“Thank you,” Nora said eventually. She didn’t know how long they had been standing there. It could have been an eternity, or maybe just ten seconds. All she knew was that she felt better and that Alexander would not let go until she started to. She did so slowly as she didn’t want to startle him.

“What’s to thank me for?” he asked. “You’re the one who saved my life.”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” Nora replied with a chuckle. “Come on, let’s go.”

They headed in what they thought was the opposite direction from where they went last time. There was no way to tell exactly what direction that was as compasses didn’t work and there was no way to see the sun through the thick tree branches and leaves, but they took a guess. According to their understanding, they could make it home as soon as they covered their necklaces with darkness.

As usual, Alexander was holding Nora's wrist. It was a habit of his, as they used to get lost in crowds often. Even though they were alone, Nora felt comfort knowing that Alexander was right in front of her. Alexander felt the same way with Nora right behind him.

“What kind of trees are these?” he asked eventually, remembering that trees have different species. It wasn’t something he cared much about, but the silence was killing him.

Nora shrugged the best she could while speed walking through a forest. “I don’t think they’re any kind that would be on earth. I’m not a tree expert, but.. these are not familiar in my country.”

“I don’t see a resemblance to any type of tree in my country, either.”

“I haven’t seen a single mushroom here, either. I was hoping there would be some, so I don’t have to fight to get some every time I go mushroom hunting.” Nora’s shoulders slumped in disappointment.

Alexander didn’t want to comment, but he thought that perhaps it was a good thing that there weren’t any mushrooms. He was aware of the Baltic tradition of mushroom hunting and that it was practically harmless if one knew how to do it right, but still. If mushrooms were to be discovered, Nora would still have to compete with the other Slavic and Baltic countries. Plus, if the trees really were an unknown species… the mushrooms might be different, too. That could lead to a whole lot of problems.

“There’s so many strange things about this Forest. No animals, no weather or climate change, a strange breed of tree, and… those lights we saw last time. I don’t get how a place like this can survive under conditions like these.” 

Nora's pace quickened until she passed Alexander. Her grip on his hand became tighter. It seemed that determination had possessed her body. Alexander’s hand in Nora’s was beginning to hurt. All he could do was jog beside her.

“What are we doing, then?” he asked with the little breath he had.

Nora’s eyebrows scrunched together as her brain searched for an answer. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Wait, I have an idea. If we climb one of the trees, we can see how far this Forest goes.”

Alexander then remembered his fall. He stumbled a little, but was dragged along and forced to hurry into the same speed he had been walking. Would it really be a good idea to climb again? It was only his luck... and his foolishness that made him go down, but what if it happened to Nora and he wasn’t quick enough to stop her?

“But what if we fall?”

Out of context, it only sounded like an irrational fear. Nora turned her head to get a good look at him. “It’s not like you to be so paranoid, Alex, and I guess it’s not like me to be so fearless. I promise we’ll be fine,” she assured. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, then you can catch me if I do fall.”

But still, he thought. Was he even strong enough to catch her? There were so many ways this could go wrong, yet Alexander didn’t have the heart to object any more than he did. Nora was truly driven by a determined spirit, which Alexander knew from experience not to mess with. 

The two of them stopped in front of a particularly large tree. Alexander swore that he’d seen it before… but it couldn’t be the one he climbed. Right? Then he felt Nora’s grip on his hand loosen.

“Nora,” he breathed. He didn’t like this. Not one bit.

“I promise we’ll be fine,” Nora repeated. “Remember? You said that to me once and we were fine.”

She was unmistakably referencing the time when they were stranded on a ski lift so many years ago. When was it, the 70’s? As he struggled to recall, Alexander realized that he was alone at the trunk of the tree. Nora was already climbing. Maybe if he just told her what happened to him, she would come back down.

Before Alexander could shout out to her, Nora had already disappeared into the thicker branches. He could hear the tiny leaves shuffling against each other. With every sound of a twig breaking, he jumped, hoping that Nora hadn’t lost her footing like he did. Unlike him, Nora reappeared safely after thirty anxious minutes. 

“What did you see?” asked Alexander. His heartbeat slowed with relief when he saw her again. His fear, once again, was replaced with curiosity.

“Wait a minute. I need to jump down,” said Nora. Her long boots hit the grass faster than Alexander could react. She started to pick leaves out of her hair. “These leaves are so sticky,” she remarked as she shook her hand and watched them fall to the ground.

I have to put a paragraph here for a pause in dialogue so that you, my dear readers, can take a breath before it starts up again. Writing is hard when you're trying to make this look well-written like a professional story. The author sighed as their brain cells began to die and the writing began to go downhill once again.

“I didn’t see anything,” she reported. “A whole bunch of treetops for as far as my eyes could see, all on level ground. No hills, every tree was the exact same height, and I think we should stop here.”

“You stayed up there for about half an hour and saw… nothing?”

“Nothing,” Nora echoed, eyes meeting the ground. Her once fierce and determined glow had vanished, and she was back to her mild self. “I’ll probably be busy with work, so we might not be able to do this for a while. All the publishing companies out there are saying my writing’s too stiff, so I need to fix that. In the meantime, take care. Okay?”

It wasn’t like Nora to be discouraged so quickly. Alexander knew that all too well. Something must have happened in that half hour that made her change her feelings. He could dismiss it as the thought that she remembered all of the work she had to do, but then why didn’t she seem happy? He didn’t want to ignore this strange behavior for any longer. The only problem was, he didn’t know how to confront it. Terror struck his face when he saw Nora reaching for her necklace, ready to open it up and disappear. The climax ended when Nora finally lifted her eyes to his. Shame was written all over them, and added concern when she saw him.

“Why do you look so terrified?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

Goshdarnit, Alex. He mentally scolded himself for not just asking what’s up.

“Let’s meet again,” said Nora. “Write me a letter, okay?”

She left without an answer to any of Alexander’s questions, which led him to wonder what she saw up there, and why she wanted to keep it a secret. Thankfully he had at least some common sense. Climbing was not an option.

Alexander thought that maybe he should be getting back. He still had to check on his cats and then come home in time for dinner, but then he heard a sound. Though it was distant, he swore he could hear voices. Were other countries exploring the forest too? If so, maybe they knew something he didn’t.

He started to head in the direction of the voices he heard, which grew louder until he could make out the words. They weren’t speaking English, or any other language he could understand. In fact, the words sounded familiar, like the ones he heard in what he thought was a dream on the day that he fell. The voices were different, though. At least, that was how he remembered it.

When the owners of the voices finally came into view, Alexander recognized them as the two other Baltic states. What language were they speaking? Russian would be the logical answer if he didn’t speak it himself. Perhaps it was Lithuanian or Estonian. 

He had met Nora’s other friends before. They were close to being her family, and as far as he knew, they didn’t like him.

Before he could turn around and leave to avoid any awkward confrontations, Lithuania noticed him standing there. A look of familiarity dawned on Tatijana’s face, but at the same time, it was obvious that she didn’t remember who the blond was. The Estonian followed her actions. The both of them stopped in their tracks and the chatter faded. The only one who truly recognized him was Tatijana.

“You’re that Liechtensteiner boy,” she commented after Alexander’s eyes broke away from hers. “What are you doing all the way out here? Where’s Nora?”

The mention of Nora made Alexander feel like he wouldn’t make it out of this situation alive. Still, he knew she was safe. That should count for something, right?

“That’s the boy who’s always with her?” Kateriina interrupted his thoughts. “I thought he would be… somehow more scary than Russia.”

Was that an insult, or a relief? Possibly both, but that didn’t really matter.

“She said she would be with you,” said Tatijana. “So why isn’t she with you?”

Alexander shuddered at the rising anger in her tone. “Nora just left a few minutes ago,” he answered, unable to hide the slight trembling in his own voice. “If you’re looking for her, she’ll be at her home.”

“And you didn’t accompany her to make sure she would be safe? First the baseball game, now this. What does Nora see in you?”

Alexander’s face turned almost totally red. “That… was an accident,” he said. “She left so quickly, I couldn’t follow. It was so sudden, I didn’t even know she was going.”

There was a reason why he wanted to avoid the other Baltics besides the fact that they didn’t like him. Frankly, he didn’t care what they thought about him, but the fact that they could easily recall things that he took years to get out of his head was terrifying. Tatijana and Kateriina were both very closely connected to Nora. Closer than Alexander could hope to be. He watched his friend go through difficult times in the past and could do nothing about it, but they had both suffered beside her. It was reasonable that they didn’t want Nora to be broken again, but Alexander knew two things that the girls didn’t. 1) They weren’t dating. 2) Nora had become physically and emotionally strong despite her country’s past. Heck, she could probably lift him easily, plus it seemed sometimes that nothing could bring her down. Trying to reason with them wasn’t his place, though.

“Well.. I hope for your sake that you’re not lying,” Kateriina smiled. It would be a lie to say that she didn’t look scary with the glint in her glasses. “I’m not the type to give threats freely, but if you mess with one of us… you’ll face the wrath of all three of us. Possibly even our male counterparts as well if they’re not too chicken.”

“How fun,” Alexander replied in a neutral tone that would make Basch Zwingli proud, though it was really a result of panic. Girls? Scary. He rolled with it and made a quick follow-up sentence for good measure. “I guess you can find out when you get home that I’m telling you the truth.”

Tatijana couldn’t help but smile. The confidence he seemed to have was admittedly kind of cute. Still, he was on thin ice. “I guess so, though I hope you don’t mind if we join you for your next expedition?”

This time, her question was genuine. Not sickening-sweet like the rest of their encounter. Alexander nodded. “Sure. The more people we have, the more things we can find.”

Both ladies were equally stunned at how quick he was to say yes. He must have a death wish, or so they thought. Not that they meant any harm. Kateriina only wished the best for her fellow Baltics, while Tatijana wanted nothing more for them to be protected. Alexander understood this and held almost no hard feelings towards their behavior. They were still very intimidating, though. He was pretty sure they were planning something, but it would not be fair to exclude them.

“We’ll see you later, then.” Tatijana gave a small nod as a goodbye.

“Stay safe,” Alexander said politely. The worst was over, so he relaxed a little. Left alone once again, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It wouldn't hurt to look a little linger, he thought. Just as long as he didn't climb any more trees...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My proof-reader had two concerns that I published anyway.
> 
> The first one is that the first few paragraphs indicated that they were kissing. No, they were not. It was a hug. A nice, totally platonic hug that I overdescribed to try and say that Alexander's a good hugger, but that backfired.
> 
> The second is the straight vibes. I don't know what to say about this one. Being a notorious heterosexual, there's really nothing I can do about this one. But also... nobody's dating, so I don't see what the problem is here. Welcome to straight slowburn hell, I guess.
> 
> EDIT: I constantly edit this story for a multitude of reasons. For plot reasons, changing the perspective, correcting typos, etc. If you see any first person pronouns or anything like that, it's because the story was originally written in first person. Also, if something doesn't make sense, I might have added a bit of information to a certain chapter after it was published and you might want to reread. Sorry about that.


	5. Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A discovery Nora made makes her regret trying to poke her nose where it doesn't belong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters in this chapter:  
> 2P!Nyo! Liechtenstein - Nicholas "Nils" Vogel

Guilt and unrest remained with Nora for several hours as the scene she saw replayed in her head. There was something there that kept them from making any great discoveries. It was to keep them safe. She should have known from the start, she thought. Why else would it be that nobody knew anything about the forest, even after centuries, maybe even longer? The world was old enough that this one could have existed forever.

What she saw up in that tree was exactly as she described to Alexander. The land was completely flat, every tree the same height. The only interesting thing she saw was a singular purple glowy thing.

The moment she touched it, she saw a vision. Alexander was falling from a tree that looked suspiciously similar to the one she was in. It had a similar, great big hole in the trunk and its branches were spread wider than most of the other trees. That was how she recognized it. When he hit the ground, Nora almost fell herself. She wondered whether it really happened, or if she was being warned. 

The vision gave her a closer look at the damage. A pool of blood was staining the grass around Alexander’s body. It also seemed that his neck and the shoulder he landed on were broken. There was no way he survived that fall… so it was just a vision?

It couldn’t have happened. There was no way. It had to be a warning to stop searching, so she did. 

\---

Alexander ended up spending more time in the forest than he had originally planned. He found himself back in the clearing, where everyone automatically transports upon arrival. Around there was where he heard rushed footsteps and a shout.

There was a pause as the footsteps faded and grew farther, then Alexander heard his full name being called. He turned around and began to search for this person who seemed to be searching for him.

“Hello?!” he replied.

“Alex!!”

It took five minutes for Alexander to find the owner of the voice. Elisa’s back faced him. “Li- Elisa?”

Elisa turned around. She seriously considered punching him in the stomach for making her search for him, but the events of their last meeting made her think again. “Yo,” she said. “Our class ended and Lili was worried. We called like fifty times.”

“Yeah. My phone doesn’t work here.”

Alexander was relieved to see Elisa again, even though he felt like he had to tiptoe around eggshells whenever they met up. He almost laughed at himself for being intimidated by a girl who was almost a foot shorter than him. Granted, she knew martial arts and used to demonstrate them generously, but other than that, there was no reason for him to be scared. Especially since he was trying to maintain a reputation of being indifferent.

“Lili and Nils should be close by.” Elisa stuck her hands in her pockets. “Let’s get them. We’re going out for dinner and Lili’s paying for everything. I want to suck her wallet dry and you can help.”

It was then that Alexander remembered that Adelheid was waiting at home. “Actually, I’m eating with my sister tonight. Sorry about that.”

Elisa only shrugged in response. “Whatever. More for me. Oh, and where’s that girl Lili was talking about? I kinda wanted to meet her.”

“Oh… you just missed her about half an hour ago.”

What was it with people wanting to leave him for the smallest reasons? Alexander took a moment to wonder this. Perhaps he was just not fun to be around.

“Shucks. Today’s full of disappointments, huh? We should probably start looking around now.”

So they did. When everyone was gathered, it was the first time in a very long time that all four Liechtensteins met informally. Alexander kept catching side glances from his 2P as Lili gushed about how happy she was that they were all together, even if it was for a little while. If he was honest, he did wonder what Nils was thinking. He wouldn't ask, though.

A nudge took Alexander out of his wandering mind. Lili giggled at his startled reaction. “So what do you think about meeting up tomorrow at three? You can bring your friend if you want. We would love to meet her!”

The idea didn’t give Alexander a good feeling, but maybe it was just nerves. Everyone (or almost everyone) was making an effort to befriend him. He might as well try too.

“If she’s available.”

The answer satisfied the others and he was finally allowed to go home. Not that he wanted to. Somehow, he was beginning to fall in love with the forest’s simplicity. The trees were spread out, all the same kind, there were no annoying bugs, no rain, and there was always a nice temperature, yet it was still outside.

As soon as he left, Lili sighed. “I’m worried about him,” she remarked. “He used to be a sweetheart. I mean, he still is, but ever since he moved from his sister’s…”

She left her sentence hanging. Elisa felt a gnawing in her stomach. She was confident that this was her indirect doing. Before they knew each other, he was much more like Lili. Happy and sociable. He had a bit of anxiety, but he got over it when Adelheid came along. He was much shorter, too. She didn’t have to look almost straight up to see his face. That was how Elisa remembered him. To her, it was a shock whenever she saw him towering over her, so dull and adultlike. Did he even know how irritating that was?

“In my eyes, he's still a kid,” Nils remarked with some hesitation, “Only, he's dealing with new expectations and trying to adapt to fit in. Inside, he still has emotions… I think.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Lili. “Maybe one of us can catch his friend Nora alone tomorrow and ask her to help us help him. Out of all of us, she knows him best.”

Nils immediately raised his hand as if he were in a class. “I volunteer.”

Elisa coughed. “That’s creepy and a little bit sus. I’ll do the talking.”

Lili stood back a little, amused as the two squabbled with each other. They hadn’t even met Alexander’s friend, yet they were already fighting over her. This could be fun, she thought. Or it could be a disaster. Either way, there was no pressure on her part, so she planned on enjoying the ride.

“Anyway.. let’s just make sure we meet our goal tomorrow,” Elisa announced after some back and forth bantering with Nils. “We’re a small country. To stay prosperous, we must unite. If Alexander doesn’t do his part, we might not last.”

“Right.” Lili became serious as the subject was mentioned. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

This time, it was Elisa who stayed the longest. For no particular reason, she began to climb.

\---

Nora reached out to her bedside table as the familiar sound of the piano played from her phone. The audio quality was terrible, but the music gave her chills. As usual, she waited for the very last second before she answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hoi, are you okay? You left so quickly,” Alexander remarked. “Estonia and Lithuania were mad at me for not escorting you home. You made it safely… yes?”

Nora pulled a pillow to her chest as she listened to his voice. It was light and almost girlish, his Liechtensteiner accent less obvious than most. She thought that if Alexander wanted to, he could pass off as American if he didn’t roll his r’s, but that was the most satisfying part to hear.

“Tatijana called me earlier. I told her I was fine,” she replied. “Thank you for worrying. I felt tired from climbing.”

“No problem. Are you available tomorrow? The other Liechtensteins want to meet you. You’re sort of famous to them, I guess.”

As much as she didn’t feel like it, she had to get over this. Too much worrying could interfere with her work. “Sure. When?”

“Tomorrow at three. We’re meeting in the forest, but I don’t think we’ll stay there. Lili doesn’t like it much there.”

Oh, thank God. The last place she wanted to be at the moment was in the forest, but if they left quickly, she supposed that nothing bad could happen. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh, and Alex?”

“Yes, Nora?”

“I have a bad feeling about exploring the forest again. Maybe we should take a break.”

There was a pause, but eventually, Alexander agreed. “Alright. See you tomorrow.”

The vision that Nora saw would sound like something straight out of a horror novel. She didn’t want to scare Alexander or anything. And if it didn’t scare him, he probably wouldn’t believe her anyway. That was her thought as she hung up.

Countries could come back after death. Nora knew this as well as everyone else, but what sort of mental damage would Alexander take with him on his journey back to life? It could seriously affect him for a very long time, as it did to her once. The time she was mute for several years was a result of death. Everyone around her had to adapt as well as her. If she wasn’t so determined to bounce back, she could have stayed that way for the rest of her existence.

Alexander had no determination towards anything. At least, not recently. If he died, the side effects could last forever if he didn’t show a little bit of the spirit he had in his youth.

If she could, Nora wanted to save him from that fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's shorter. I'm trying to fight writer's block, to be honest.


	6. Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No, they did not meet online.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't put the new characters' names in this one because I'm mysterious.

Hands scrambled through the drawers of an old dresser. Almost shaking with anticipation, they grabbed a hold of a small, golden box. The lid came off. Light reflected off the piece of jewelry that sat inside, ignored for decades.

“There,” a woman breathed as she placed the box on her lap. Gently, she picked up the necklace and put it around her neck. As the chain locked in place, a grin tugged at her cheeks.

On the hotel’s bathroom mirror was a note. -I want to see you. Please meet me in the forest-. It wasn’t signed, but she knew who put it on her mirror.

The woman looked at it once again. Purple eyes met the ones on the opposite side of the glass. It was time.

The necklace slid open so that the turquoise stone was visible. It stayed open for the duration of her adventure. The woman’s vision blurred, then she came to, surrounded by trees.

“Hello, dear.”

A man was leaning against a tree, only feet away. The woman smiled again. She finally got to see him in person! She couldn’t come up with words to express how excited she was, but her look said it all.

“I designed a new creature. It’s somewhat inspired by you.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to...”

A ball of purple light, no bigger than the palm of her hand floated towards them. The woman was mesmerized by it the moment it caught her eye. It had no body. No soul. It glimmered and twinkled. Truly admirable was the creator’s work.

“Your eyes have the same hue. I made it as a thank you, for not fearing me.”

“Oh, of course I wouldn’t fear you! I should thank you for being my friend.” The woman tilted her head at the creature. “Your creation is beautiful. It looks like a little star.”

“A star,” the man repeated. “That’s what we’ll call it. Go ahead and touch it.”

So the woman reached out and touched it. It flickered a bit before it seemed to project scenery from the forest itself.

“It can see things, just like you can. When you touch it, it replays memories from what it’s seen in the past.”

“Amazing.”

Two countries walked together in the projection, holding hands. The boy with light hair led, while a girl almost his height followed.

“There’s so many strange things about this Forest. No animals, no weather or climate change, a strange breed of tree, and… those lights we saw last time. I don’t get how a place like this can survive under conditions like these.” The girl in the picture seemed distressed. She began to take the lead, practically dragging the boy.

“What are we doing, then?”

“I don’t know. Wait, I have an idea. If we climb one of the trees, we can see how far this forest goes.”

“But what if we fall?”

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, then you can catch me if I do fall.”

“Nora…” 

“I promise we’ll be fine. Remember? You said that to me once and we were fine.”

The vision ended. “Others are curious,” the man said. “They want to know my secrets. This time… I think I’ll let someone find them.”

The woman perked up. The idea of not being the only one to know about this world interested her. “Sounds like fun, but what will happen when they find out?”

“What do you think? They are the same species as you, so you would know better, I think.”

She thought for a moment. The girl seemed more interested, but that would be too easy. The boy, however, was reluctant and fearful. What if making friends with the forest could make him brave? 

“The boy,” she answered. “He reminds me of me before I met you.”

“I thought that would be your answer. I need to get him here alone. It will be hard, but I have an idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After swimming upstream against writer's block for weeks, I am inspired. Hopefully this means the quality of my writing will be somewhat better in the future. <3


	7. Fable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The forest, so far a mystery, decides to open itself to Alex. As he learns this, he meets an energetically devious woman who claims to be one of the forest's very own creators. Instead of being much help, she introduces a depressingly cliché game.

“Huh. What was that about?”

Elisa watched the two begin to walk away. One of them, she recognized. The woman was a country, while the man was… some other being. He had human traits but certainly wasn’t human. No human could create such a thing except in their imagination, which is the case with the author.

Whatever those purple things were, it seemed that they could spy on her, though she wasn’t able to see what the woman saw when she touched the ball of light. Whatever. She only hoped that they would get her best side.

When she was sure that nobody was around, Elisa jumped down from the tree. The purple lights were all around her. She tried to touch one, but it jerked away from her hand.

She tried again, this time catching it in her palm. It showed an… interesting scene. Lili and a couple of her friends were walking on the ground far below. The view, from the treetops, was very limited. Exclamations were heard, and when the ‘camera’ or whatever it was moved towards the ground, they were gone.

“This can’t be right,” Elisa said out loud. “Did they go home after this? Were they eaten by some creature? But I just saw Lili. Maybe she was the only survivor.”

Before she could try to rewind the image and try to identify the friends that were with her, the star thingie began to float away, out of Elisa’s reach.

“Whatever. It’s not my problem.”

She left before curiosity could overtake her. Enough craziness had happened for that day, she thought.

\---

Alexander made sure to arrive early. He didn’t want the others to meet Nora before he came. Who knows what would happen? Not that he was scared of them… entirely. He trusted Lili to be nice, of course, but Elisa and Nils would probably be mean or try to make a move on her. The thought of the latter happening bothered him more than it should have.

Lili came shortly after with a large bag slung over her shoulder. She took a look at Alexander, greeting him with a small wave before she came a little closer.

“Did I tell you that we were ice skating, or did I forget?” she asked.

“I don’t remember you telling me that,” Alexander replied. “I would have brought my skates, but I’ll just rent some.”

“It looks like the 2Ps are late as usual,” said Lili.

Just as Lili said that Alexander noticed someone appearing meters behind her. A tall man with tan skin and sharp eyes that could be seen clearly from far away. “Excuse me?” he said in an offended tone. “I’m not late, you’re early.”

Alexander almost jumped ten feet into the air. Almost. He was startled not only by Nils’ presence but the fact that he was speaking English, a language he swore in his teenage years that he would never speak.

Then, a girl appeared. Her skin tone was only a little lighter, with even more freckles, and her hair was only a little darker than Lili’s. It went down to her waist, braided very nicely into twin braids. Unlike the giant that stood behind everyone, this girl was extremely short. She had to tilt her chin up to even look at Lili. “Hey losers,” she muttered.

“Elisa! We’re waiting on Nora.” Lili went for a hug. Elisa didn’t reject it, but she didn’t lift her arms to hug back.

They let go just in time to see Nora appear. She froze when she noticed that everyone else was already there.

“Everyone, this is Nora, my friend,” Alexander spoke up again. “Nora, meet the gang. Lili, Elisa, and that guy over there is Nils.”

Nora was bombarded with greetings. She timidly waved back, looking to Alexander when all was said. He nodded back, hoping to assure that everyone was friendly. It only made her feel pressured to say something.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d be the last one here… sorry about that.”

“That’s fine, sweetheart,” Elisa responded. Her expression was the same, but there was no question that she meant it. “So… we’re ice skating?”

Lili nodded. “Since I went recently with other friends and they’re actually open, yes. We should all appear in a hidden area behind the rink when we leave. I have everything mapped out.”

She was diligent as usual, Alexander observed. “Well then if everyone’s ready, let’s go.”

Everyone put their hands to their lockets to close them. They clicked, but nothing happened. Alexander tried again to cover his teleportation charm with darkness to make it work, but still nothing. Everyone else was gone already. His breath hitched when he realized that he was stuck here.

“Sorry, Liechtenstein. We had to keep you behind.”

From behind a tree with a large trunk appeared a woman who strangely resembled Nora. Her eyes were a striking blue, and her face was round and freckled. The only noticeable differences he could see right off the bat were the length and color of her hair, and her height and build. The woman’s hair was auburn, traveling down her back and barely touching her thin waist. She was a head shorter than Nora for sure. Wearing a blue little sundress, she appeared small and innocent, but her voice showed otherwise.

“Checking me out, huh? Sadly, I’m unavailable and totally out of your league anyway.” Huge dimples formed in the woman’s cheeks with a teasing expression in her shiny eyes. “My name is Fable and I’m an author of the forest. You’re curious about this place, so we agreed to give you the chance. If you keep coming and searching, you’ll find answers. Promise, ‘kay?”

Her chattiness had Alexander barely listening, idly brushing his thumb against the locket that he held in his dominant hand. There was something about her that made him extremely uneasy. Maybe it was the joke she made. Was it a joke? Either way, Alexander wondered whether he should trust this girl or not.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” Fable crossed her arms, her eyes still glittering as if she was a predator who was eyeing her prey. “That is, you don’t talk much to strangers. When you’re with your friend, there seems to be no problem.”

“Are you watching me?” Alexander asked, deciding to try and be as direct as possible.

“I don’t watch you, but someone does,” was Fable’s response. “The eyes of the forest. You’ll see them more often now.”

“The eyes…?”

“You heard me. We have eyes everywhere. Some people come here for a moment alone, y’know, to do whatever disgusting thing they want, but our eyes see it all.”

Fable was a mouthful, but at least her point got across. It made him visibly shudder.

“There’s a lot more,” Fable continued. “Sorry, you might miss your entire ice skating trip, and the others can’t come back at this point because we need privacy. So there’s a wonderful young lady who is a friend of ours. She comes often, and she was the one to choose you. Guess she saw something in you. So without her knowing, we decided to orchestrate a little game.”

He was looking forward to ice skating with Nora again. Oh well. Perhaps later he could ask her to go with him another time, without anybody else. It would be better that way anyway. For now, he was a captive audience to this tiny girl, and she wanted to play a game. Didn’t seem too hard.

“The object of the game is to find this woman. If you can get her to kiss you, you win a prize. Or a few. Anyway, they’re all pretty great and you’ll want to have them if you really like this place. There's no time limit, but the sooner the better. The authors might get bored and choose someone else to compete against you if you don't get a move on. Otherwise, it's simple enough, right?”

“Wait… what?” It was beginning to sound like nonsense. Was there any rhyme or reason for this author’s whims? Or did she just enjoy talking to him and seeing how he would react?

The disbelief was apparently visible on his face. “Believe it,” said Fable. “Believe me. All the authors voted on this. We’re a very romantic species. The whole true love’s kiss crap gets us right here.” She pointed to her heart. “We removed the true love part because we care more about the action itself. You don’t have to kiss her back and she doesn’t have to love you. Just get it done.”

“So basically, I become your muse to get some prize?” he asked.

“Yeah. It’s a really cool prize. Even I don’t have access to it. Don’t worry, though. Even if you never get that prize because you’re too much of a wimp, you can still find cool things to tell that Latvian chick about.”

Alexander’s head was spinning. There were more of her? And they were all as ridiculous as Fable was? It’s not ‘simple’ to get a kiss from someone. In his six hundred and eighty long years of life, he had only been kissed once. And that didn’t even count due to the circumstances… plus, it just sounded wrong.

Fable stepped closer, arms still crossed and eyebrows raised. “Just think about it, okay? There’s really nothing to it. You could even just ask. Offer your hand. Whatever.”

“I’ll think about it,” he finally agreed. It only took two seconds. The answer was no, but of course, he didn’t say that.

“Cool. Oh, and you get a hint.” Fable grinned, mischievously playing with a strand of her hair. “The eyes of the forest are designed after her.”

There were several instances already in which Alexander felt like saying, ‘what?’, and this was no different. Just what was Fable talking about? Were there eyes on the trees or something?

“This is a country, right?” he asked as if he was going along with it, but he was also curious. Entertaining this author’s expectations was a very bad idea, he would one day learn.

“Of course, she is. You might even know her. She’s a sweetheart, just like you.”

Most likely not. Alexander didn’t know very many female nations but come to think of it, he knew even fewer male nations. Of course, he would have to blame Himaruya Hidekaz for making so few females in the canon verse… if he knew that Hima existed, but this is fanfiction and for convenience, he doesn’t know who Hima is. But if he did, I’m saying that Hima would be to blame for him not knowing many nations of the same sex. I digress.

“Why did this nation choose me?”

Fable shrugged. “She only had two choices. Guess she liked you better. Would’ve gone for the other one myself, but... oh well. You playing, or not?”

“We'll see,” was Alexander's answer. “Am I allowed to tell anyone?”

“Yep.”

Wait… seriously? He was expecting a firm ‘no’ and some more teasing from the playful author. “Okay.”

“Actually, you might wanna discuss it with your lady friend. Get her approval and such.”

Not this again. Instead of correcting her, Alexander decided to just let her think whatever she wanted. It was beginning to bother him less because of the depressing amount of times he’s been mistaken as Nora’s boyfriend.

“So.” Fable clapped her hands loudly, letting out a soft ‘ow’ upon impact. “Any more questions before I let you go?”

He had a lot, but he supposed that he had to find the answers himself. “Just one,” he said after some hesitation. “How large is the forest?”

Fable’s eyes twinkled once again. “It’s much smaller than you think.”

Two seconds later, Alexander was standing outside of a building. He could only assume it was the ice skating rink. As Lili said, he appeared behind the building so that nobody could see him. The first person he saw was Nora, who was frantically searching around.

"Nora!" he exclaimed. At that moment, neither of them could put into words how relieved they were. Nora ran up to Alexander and almost squeezed the breath out of him in a hug.

"I was so worried. I couldn't come back to look for you," she muttered, her voice wavering. "Are you okay?"

Tears were starting in her eyes. They made Alexander feel guilty, even though none of this was his fault. He hugged back, as gently as usual while Nora clung to the back of his shirt and leaned into his shoulder. She had been genuinely terrified for reasons that Alexander couldn't comprehend. He didn't try, for the moment.

"I'm alright," he answered. "I'm safe. More importantly, are you okay? Everyone was nice, right?"

Nora sniffed. "Everyone's delightful and I'm fine. Just as long as you are."

Nothing more needed to be said. In those moments of comfort, Alexander simply felt grateful to have someone who worried about his wellbeing. For the first time in a while, he counted his blessings. He had a friend who loved him, a sister who sacrificed for him, people who were trying to make amends with him, two adorable cats, and a partridge in a pear tree. There was no way he could exchange that for anything else...

right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't remember writing most of this. It was probably really late at night but it was too good not to keep.
> 
> I really miss ice skating, if you couldn't tell.


	8. Author's Note

Okay, so here's the thing.

I might not continue this story. Not because I hate it or anything. I love this story. It took me months to plan. The thing is, I didn't plan /enough/, so the story's lacking a few elements. I don't know what the next step or direction is, and st this point the destination might even be different than what I thought because I keep going. Out. Of. Character.

However, there is a chance I might keep going if I feel up to the task (and if people are actually interested).

There are two things I could do to salvage this piece. Plot and write the rest of the story (and edit the chapters I already have to make them... better), or start completely from scratch and just rewrite the entire thing.

I'm leaning toward the second option. It will take much more time to accomplish, but I like that option. Because I want to try to keep everythinng I write no matter how badly written it is, I won't delete this work. At least, not until the new story is published and even then, I still might keep it on here for people to see how I've improved in the future.

If anyone reads and enjoys this, I would like your opinion, since I definitely would not have written so much without the encouragement I've received so far. Don't feel pressured to say anything if you don't want to, I'm just curious.

For now, I'll leave this project alone and at least have a break before I decide what to do. In the meantime, I'm also writing other stories. They're not published yet, but just know that I'm not dead and I'm still going to run this account.


End file.
